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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not know which of these houses to buy? Two choices, can't decide!

113 replies

dottytablecloth · 16/02/2015 21:20

House A
New build
Garage but no utility room
4 bedrooms
2 small reception rooms
Small garden to back and side
About 1300sq ft - worried it's too small (we are moving for more space)
We can comfortably afford this

House B
Repossessed house, needs a fair bit of work about £30k need spent
4 bedrooms
No downstairs wc
No garage but has utility room
2 large reception rooms
Good size garden
Stretches our budget
(I love the size of this house)

Both houses are in a great location for work and school.

The second house has thrown a spanner in the works; went to see I today and didn't really expect to like it but I do!

AIBU for dithering?

OP posts:
dayslikethis · 16/02/2015 21:47

House B - no question. Stunning on the outside, MORE than liveable on the inside. I too was expecting a hovel. (and we have viewed a fair few of those in our time!) I'd go for space every time if I could - long term it's a much better investment, and you will be able to do the work in house B over time, rather than it all needing done straight away. Amazing price for that size of house! (I'm from NI originally and I know the market there is still slow and low, and is tough on sellers (my sister has just sold her big 4 bed house for about £200,000 and I know that was tough for them), but as a buyer I would LOVE to get that size of house for that price!) It would cost probably 3 times that easily where we lived-in Scotland, if not more!

Original poster
dottytablecloth · 16/02/2015 21:50

The road isn't busy- we've driven over lots of times, evening, weekends and it's v quiet area generally speaking.

OP posts:
TwatFaceBitch · 16/02/2015 21:51

definitely b! It's lovely bigger. has character and potential. Apart from the boiler, the other things could be done as and when.

GreatJoanUmber · 16/02/2015 21:52

I would steer clear of new builds, unless you self-build.

House 2 looks gorgeous! You will only add more and more value to it. And it's got more space and a bigger garden, which you couldn't change in house 1.

Original poster
dottytablecloth · 16/02/2015 21:52

I love house b! AIBU has confirmed that IANBU to want it!

OP posts:
Lambzig · 16/02/2015 21:56

I am somewhat hysterical about the idea that you think house 2 needs a lot of work. I am currently living in a house that we bought 18 months ago that hadn't been touched since the 1950s, I have no kitchen. We fell in love with the location and the massive front and back gardens.

Definitely house 2, it looks lovely.

inlectorecumbit · 16/02/2015 21:58

House 2 wins
all these things that need done don't have to be done right away. That way you can decorate and change things to your taste.
Anyway what is a stretch of the budget now generally becomes more affordable as time goes on

evelynj · 16/02/2015 21:59

Agree-lower your standards over the work that 'needs' done. Paint yourself & avoid new builds you haven't built. When was b built?

evelynj · 16/02/2015 22:00

Plus, if you're lucky enough ;) like us to have a small household income you may get a new boiler grant ;)

shewalkslikerihanna · 16/02/2015 22:02

House b for me also

That's a lot of house for the money and I don't live in an expensive area. It looks c.f. very liveable in and you don't need a garage.

EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard · 16/02/2015 22:03

No competition. B with a new boiler.

skylark2 · 16/02/2015 22:05

House 2 looks lovely - what are you going to spend 30k on, a few kitchen cupboard doors? I was expecting something with no floorboards or plaster on the walls!

MehsMum · 16/02/2015 22:08

House B and get your paintbrushes out: that will save you a small fortune.

I know from experience that you can live with a collapsing kitchen (drawer front coming away in my hand, that level of collapsing) for several years if you have to. It also helps to use the kitchen for a while so you can get a better idea of where it would suit you to have the sink, cooker and fridge.

By 'new floors' do you mean 'new carpets' or 'new joists and boards'? Because again, new carpets can wait (we've been here well over a decade and have only just replaced the hall carpet, and all our bedroom has had is a lick of paint).

Fitted wardrobes: they can wait too. Do you have IKEA in NI? Get some cheap wardrobes - Freecycle, ebay...

Just check that the road noise wouldn't drive you nuts (think summer evenings with the windows open).

321zerobaby · 16/02/2015 22:10

Definitely house B, and then have a 5 year plan for the jobs. I waited 14 years for my new kitchen, but worth the wait!

firesidechat · 16/02/2015 22:12

£30,000 worth of work needed? Really?

I'm a little shocked that you think house B needs a fair bit of work. It needs hardly anything doing as far as I can see. If you could only see some of our house purchases, although they looked lovely when we sold them.

It's a house with loads of potential and I would definitely buy it. All that house for 166,000! I want to cry.

soverylucky · 16/02/2015 22:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
dottytablecloth · 16/02/2015 22:14

The floors upstairs have been partly ripped up and walls written over (obv they don't show pictures of this)

There are lots of holes in the walls as the the previous owners must have had lots of pictures up- does this mean the walls need re plastered? Blush. Clearly we've never done a house up before. Have to confess we have no real idea about what things cost; we just made a list of what would need done and guessed the cost!

OP posts:
Original poster
dottytablecloth · 16/02/2015 22:15

lucky I'm sure your house is not a shithole!

OP posts:
fourcorneredcircle · 16/02/2015 22:16

If house A has four bedrooms but two small reception rooms the bedrooms sound impractically small (I assume one is above the garage and therefore also potentially cold too?). If you can afford the other house, and your family can afford the stress that come with living in a part finished house, do it.

squoosh · 16/02/2015 22:17

That's a lot of house for £170,000. Looks fine to me.

TwatFaceBitch · 16/02/2015 22:18

Do you mean the floor boards ripped up? If it's a few floor boards pulled up, a joiner can fix that. Not too expensive.
The writing can be painted over if they are just nail holes a bit of poly filler.

VirginiaTonic · 16/02/2015 22:18

If house b stretches your budget, how will you afford the work or afford to build a garage?

soverylucky · 16/02/2015 22:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pressone · 16/02/2015 22:21

Floorboards about £30 for 5 boards
Small nail holes in wall box of polyfilla £10
Kitchen looks fine
paint 5 L Dulux magnolia (reasonable make, decent quality boring neutral colour £30

Really depends if you can afford the repayments if the interest rates go up, but they are not shockingly different in price and the potential to increase value in house 2 is much larger than house 1

BafanaThesober · 16/02/2015 22:21

B
Not a doubt, for such a little bit extra, please go for it, it's lovely.

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